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Weather watcher
Working on Brand Biosphere
Ahhh roma
the buontempo brothers are busy selling their pasta to italy
mcdonald & szeps mother & son stars back together for play at frankston arts centre
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THIS MONTH
IN our first issue we talked about making BusinessTimes carbon neutral by the end of the first year of publication, sooner if possible. We have started the process, beginning to measure our own carbon footprint and researching methods by which we can reduce our production of carbon dioxide and arrange to offset the remainder. This month we write about our progress and offer a few guides to other businesses contemplating a similar path. Also, we are asking any business that has either started or finished the process to share their experiences with us and our readers. This second issue of the magazine – being posted to every business with an Australia post address in Frankston City and the Mornington Peninsula – continues this environmental theme with its cover story on the region’s biosphere, a much misunderstood organisation which chairman Rob Gell seeks to explain. The positive implications for businesses are very real with biosphere ‘branding’, according to the veteran TV weatherman.
The feature story is the classic ‘coalsto-Newcastle’ story about the Buontempo brothers who make pasta and other organic food products at Roma Foods in Carrum Downs and export them to Italy. Mornington real estate agent Honor Baxter will ride 500km through Vietnam to raise money for CARE. That effort deserves support. (See Page 32) Business consultant Hamish Petrie brings a wealth of knowledge from his years in the top echelon at the New York head office of multi-national Alcoa. This month he discusses values as a guiding light for your business. Health writer Michael Ellis says you can have those caffeine-based drinks now and pay later. It’s a short term boost at a long term cost, he says. Trademarks Attorney Mary-Ann Ballekom, of Frankston firm White Cleland, poses the question: What’s in a name? There may be trouble in store if the name you’re using has been secured by another business. We invite readers’ comments, opinions and ideas. Tony Murrell, Publisher
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BusinessTimes / ISSUE 2 / JULY 2010 TONY MURRELL KEITH PLATT MARG HARRISON DAVID HILET MELANIE LARKE SIMON BROWN Design MARLON PLATT
Publisher / Director Editorial Director Sales Director Managing Director Material production / Prepress
Email: General: inquiries@businesstimes.net.au Editorial: news@businesstimes.net.au Advertising: sales@businesstimes.net.au Artwork: production@businesstimes.net.au Internet: www.businesstimes.net.au BusinessTimes (Frankston/Mornington Peninsula) is published 11 times a year by BusinessTimes Pty Ltd and printed by Galaxy Print & Design, 76 Reid Parade, Hastings, Victoria 3915. Postal: PO Box 428, Hastings, Victoria 3915 Tel. 035979 7744 Fax. 035979 7944
Are you in BusinessTimes? For advertising, contact Marg Harrison on 0414 773 153 or marg@businesstimes.net.au Make sure every business knows your business. DISCLAIMER: Information in BusinessTimes contains general advice only. No article or column has been prepared taking into account any individual reader’s financial situation, investment objectives or particular needs. Readers should personally consult professionals for advice on any matter, including investment, health and the law. While all care is taken, BusinessTimes accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions in the published material. Views expressed are not necessarily those of BusinessTimes Pty Ltd.
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contents / july 2010
Features
12 34
Weather watcher: Rob Gell and the biosphere
Ahhh, Roma: The Good Time brothers
Frank Buontempo keeps a close eye on production at Roma Foods factory in Carrum Downs.
A lot in a small car
Pictures: Keith Platt
Departments Busy Bites News Infrastructure Local Government Theatre Contributions Technology Networking
bbp
Columns 6 8 16 17 22 21 32 39
Motoring: Ewen Kennedy Managing: Hamish Petrie Market: Richard Campbell Law: Mary-Ann van Ballekom Health: Mike Ellis
Also: ‘Life’ award for market gardener Luis Gazzola (P.19) and real estate agent Honor Baxter pedals 500 km for CARE in Vietnam ... and she needs some help (P.32).
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Smart justice A coalition of legal and community organisations, led by the Federation of Community Legal Centres, has been formed to promote understanding of criminal justice policies in the lead up to the Victorian State election. Smart Justice seeks to enhance the safety of all Victorians by promoting understanding of criminal justice policies that are effective, evidence-based and compliant with human rights. The project will be complemented by a Smart Justice website.
Robert Walters’ recent Employee Insights Survey (EIS) of almost 500 Australian professionals showed that nationally, 37 per cent of employees admired the actions of their employer throughout the Global Financial Crisis. The survey showed that 18 per cent did not approve of the way their employer dealt with the GFC, with one-third of this group becoming disengaged as a result. By generation, Baby Boomers were the hardest group to impress, with only 32 per cent of respondents admiring their employers. Engineering firms appeared to get it right in the eyes of employees, with 63 per cent of engineers admiring the stance their employers took. This was followed by those working in HR, with almost half of the HR professionals surveyed claiming to admire their employers. In line with the down-sizing of many sales and marketing teams during the downturn, only a quarter of those professionals
surveyed admired the policies their employers implemented to manage the crisis. Robert Walters is a leading global recruitment consultancy, specialising in placing high calibre professionals into permanent, contract and temporary positions at all management levels.
Workplace diversity in ‘too-hard basket’
Shire buildings MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council has committed $3 million in its 2010-11 budget for refurbishment of shire buildings.
It’s more than just about prayer rooms and maternity leave – diversity leads to better innovation, creativity and customer service, says HR company boss Katherine Graham.
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DIVERSITY in the workplace is being seen as difficult rather than an opportunity and a benefit to business, according to the CEO of Sydney-based company The Human Resource Centre. And managing diversity in the workplace is more than simply having a prayer room, maternity plan or token diversity policy that sits in the HR department, says Katherine Graham. “Many businesses often see diversity as being too hard to do because they tend to focus on getting their core business right, which means diversity management becomes an afterthought, and they end up sticking to what they know and what has worked for them in the past,” Graham said. “For example, creating job-share roles for mothers can be seen by companies as harder to implement and manage than employing one full-time person.”
WITHOUT fanfare, Optus offered a so-called unlimited iPad plan within days of the Australian launch of the Apple’s latest offering. The recharge option for $50 appeared on the Optus website, almost at the same time as Vodaphone made an almost identical offer. The pre-paid recharge is effectively a monthly cost because customers must use their data allowance within 30 days. Peer-to-peer usage (services like BitTorrent) is not included in the recharge offer by both telcos, so the term ‘unlimited’ might be questionable. 6 | BusinessTimes | July 2010
But the benefits enjoyed by businesses embracing diversity, Graham says, include: Increased innovation and creativity: a diverse workforce with a range of different backgrounds and perspectives gives organisations a broader range of ideas and problemsolving skills. Improved service to clients: a workplace that reflects the Australian community will understand its clients better, leading to improved products and services. Competitive management practices: organisations that value and capitalise on employee diversity have productive and fulfilling workplaces that help them attract and retain employees. Increased labour pool: with the labour shortage across Australia, diversity is a sound approach to attracting staff from a range of labour pools. “Diversity is about creating a culture of respecting differences, regardless of age, language, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual orientation, religious belief and family responsibilities. Companies that effectively manage diversity, ingrain it within their culture and reap the benefits,” said Graham.
Small operators still face tough times: Commonwealth Bank ALMOST half Australian small businesses are still affected by the global financial crisis, according to new research released by the Commonwealth Bank in early June. The bank’s executive general manager of local business banking, Symon Brewis-Weston, said that while many economic commentators have suggested that the worst of the GFC is behind us, small businesses were still reporting tough conditions. However, the research also found that the majority of business owners have a positive outlook, with 67 per cent of business owners focusing on growing their business over the new financial year. Another finding was that a third of business owners do not have a current business plan. He said businesses should be making sure their vision and strategies were established in order to take advantage of growth opportunities. Brewis-Weston suggested five steps toward growing a business in the new financial year 1. Understand where your business is now: Before you can work out where you’re going, you need to check where you are right now. Review the foundations of your business – the vision, unique selling proposition and key competencies.
2. Set goals: Start by establishing an overall objective by asking “what do we want the business to look like at year end?”. Then develop a short list of goals to support it. 3. Set strategies: Consider the “how”, documenting the details of marketing and sales plans, as well as the plan to keep existing customers coming back. 4. Create financial forecasts: Include a profit and loss forecast, balance sheet forecast, and perhaps a break-even analysis, particularly for any new product lines. But also include a detailed cash flow forecast, projecting your incoming and outgoing cash for each month of the year. 5. Share the vision: There’s no point having a plan unless everyone knows about it. Make sure all staff understand key goals and their personal role in making these goals a reality.
Grand sale
Delivery costs
Frankston’s Grand Hotel has been bought by the Melbourne Racing Club as part of a $50 million, seven-pub deal. The buy gives the club the leasehold over seven suburban hotels formerly owned by Rick Munday. The sale was made by receivers and managers PPB after being appointed by the National Australia Bank. An article in The Age newspaper said Mr Munday had made his fortune investing in gaming venues but was caught by the global financial crisis after overcapitalising on refurbishments. The Grand opened on Frankston’s famous pubs’ corner in Nepean Highway in 1992. Tabcorp reported a net $2.5m in electronic gaming machine expenditure in the six months July to December 2009. The total for the previous year was $5.19m.
The cost of sending a letter by snail mail late last month (June) rose from 55 to 60 cents. Australia Post was given the go ahead for the rise by the Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) after saying it faced a loss on its mail services. The dearer postage will apply to small, large and pre-sorted letter services. The ACCC said although mail volumes were declining it would not give Australia Post permission to lift charges for another two years. ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel issued a statement saying that in 2009 the ACCC had objected to a price increase because Australia Post’s costs were not falling “in response to declining volumes”. He said Australia Post may need to make further reforms to remain profitable while meeting its community service obligations.
According to Frankston City’s latest business survey, just over half of the 218 businesses that responded reported that they felt no impact from the money crisis. A little surprising was that 17 per cent of respondents said they experienced a positive impact from the crisis. – SEE story next page.
Four-year plan FRANKSTON City has adopted its four-year council plan, its overall guiding light until 2014. The plan forms the basis of council’s efforts and resource allocation and it went on public exhibition from April 26 to May 24. Not one comment or submission was received. See a review of the plan this issue.
Online mentoring win The Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s MentorNet mentoring program has won a Platinum Award for Best Mentoring or Coaching program at the LearnX Asia Pacific 2010 E-Learning and Training Awards. MentorNet provides women business owners with six months of business skills training and small-group mentoring. Mentors (men or women with more than five years business experience) assist using technologybased platforms to women business owners following a structured and planned approach to business building. The program covers business-skills development training, mentoring and peer collaboration. Subject-matter experts facilitate educational webinars (web seminars) to deliver business skills training. The program was launched in January 2007 and remains the only national mentoring program ever launched and the first to use today’s web and digital technology to deliver education and mentoring. MentorNet uses a combination of online classrooms, blogs, podcasts, a webcommunity and virtual meetings to provide structured skills training and mentoring to businesswomen.
July 2010 | BusinessTimes | 7
NEWS
Half escape crisis mauling: survey JUST over half of the 218 businesses responding to Frankston City’s 2010 business survey reported that they felt no impact from the Global Financial Crisis. Perhaps a little surprising was that 17 per cent of respondents said they experienced a positive impact from the crisis. And just over half indicated staff levels would remain steady in 2010. The survey questioned businesses about both the financial crisis and the federal government’s stimulus package. It found that many businesses planned to change their practices, including diversifying their product and proactively sourcing new clients to help them ride out difficult times. Mayor Cr Christine Richards, said it was important for council to regularly gain feedback from local businesses and she thanked all who participated in the annual survey. A third of the respondents reported starting their business in the past five years while eight started this year. Findings from the 2010 annual business survey include: • 20.2 per cent (18.2 per cent in 2009) of respondents indicated that they had relocated an existing business from elsewhere into Frankston City. • 66.4 per cent reported having between 1-4 full-time staff, 47.9 per cent part-time staff and 43.7 per cent casual staff. 39.4 per cent of respondents indicated that they employ no
casual staff in comparison to 12.9 per cent with no full-time staff. There was an expectation by 58.1 per cent that staff numbers would remain the same during 2010. • 2.6 per cent of investment in the businesses of respondents was dedicated to making the business ‘greener’ (and 10.8 per cent expected to be dedicated to ‘greener’ business initiatives). • Businesses across all sectors indicated they expect to increase their capital investment by an additional 48 per cent from the previous year (this includes investment in new equipment, vehicles, buildings etc). Transport, storage, cultural and recreational services indicated the highest level of capital investment for the next financial year. For a full copy of the survey results, contact Sam Jackson, Economic Development Coordinator, on 9784 1055 or email samjackson@ frankston.vic.gov.au
Families will turn off their heaters Seven out of ten Australian households will cut their use of heating this winter to keep down costs, according to a poll by independent energy comparison site Switchwise.com.au Almost one-quarter (23 per cent) of people said they will not turn on the heating at all this winter in order to avoid blowing the family budget on power and gas bills. Over a third (36 per cent) of those surveyed said that they would only switch on the heating in one or two rooms to keep energy costs under control. Shaun Johnson, founder of Switchwise, said consumers could lower their energy bills in two ways – looking for simple ways to reduce energy use at home and by comparing their current supplier’s rates every six to 12 months to ensure they are getting the best possible deal. “There could be up to a dozen power and gas suppliers competing for your business 8 | BusinessTimes | July 2010
Win for cafe FRANKSTON Mayor Cr Christine Richards (left) presents Aum Shanti Vegetarian Café and Gallery owner Elke Newell with a prize for having taken part in the council’s 2010 business survey. The café was randomly selected from respondents to the survey and received a $1000 advertising voucher and Village Cinemas Karingal Gold Class double pass. The mayor congratulated Aum Shanti on the win, adding that they “provide great service – and great coffee – to the community and we value their feedback on how we can continue to work better together.” Elke Newell was shocked by the win. “I have never won anything. I must admit in previous years I have not put time aside to fill out the survey but I thought as my business is growing it is important to contribute and provide feedback. “The advertising voucher is a great bonus for our business,” Ms Newell said. Aum Shanti Vegetarian Café and Gallery, 439 Nepean Highway, Frankston opens 7am – 5pm Monday to Friday, and 10am – 4pm Saturdays. The cafe displays both imported and local art works and serves gourmet vegetarian food. Most products are fair- trade and the café and gallery
so it would be wise to shop around – it’s now incredibly quick and easy to compare electricity and gas prices across all suppliers online at Switchwise,” Mr Johnson said.
offers catering services, hosts regular workshops, poetry nights, invites guest speakers and hires out the store for private functions. Call 9783 2899.
Rocky retail, says trader associaton
Red carpet treatment when it comes to seats Red carpet for celebrities or red seats for the audience? The question was a no-brainer for Frankston Arts Centre when it chose new seats as part of its recent $650,000 upgrade. Seats and punters win every time. The theatre was given a coat of paint; improved technology for anyone wearing a hearing aid; more space backstage and a link to neighbouring Cube 37; a mechanised orchestral pit and new theatrical equipment, such as lights, curtains and radio microphones. The arts centre attracts about 275,000 people each year and has the second-largest theatre stage in Victoria. Spokeswoman Gillian Thompson, a former dancer, said the new “ruby red” seats would provide more leg room and “still have the same fabulous stage view”. For bookings and show details call 9784 1060 or www.artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au.
Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA) welcomed the Reserve Banks stay on interest rates on June 1. ANRA CEO Margy Osmond said the global crisis was far from over for retailers. Retailers welcomed an increase in sales but remained cautious about declaring the journey to recovery at an end, Osmond said.
Worst drivers in Australia YOUI Insurance issued press releases tailored for each state on June 8 to trumpet a national survey of drivers. The headlines read like a puzzle. Consider this: ‘Adelaide drivers voted safest in the country’; ‘Brisbane drivers voted safer than those in Sydney’, ‘Melbourne drivers voted safer than Sydneysiders’; ‘Perth drivers voted safer than those on the east coast’. So, who are the crap drivers, according to the YOUI survey? Why, Sydney, of course. And the headline for the NSW press release: ‘Sydney drivers voted worst in the country’.
Gillian Thompson tries the new seats at the arts centre.
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More rate rises: ANZ economist AUSTRALIANS should expect rising interest rates over the next 12 to 18 months, ANZ senior economist, Amber Rabinov told a gathering in Mornington on June 1. Ms Rabinov said the rises would follow solid income growth and subsequent inflationary pressures on the back of a strong forecast rise in the terms of trade. She said this would mean that governments in the G7 economies (an economic and political group of the world’s seven largest industrialised nations), would need to focus on fiscal consolidation before rate normalisation. “Despite the recent rate rises, economists at the ANZ see no downturn on the horizon for property prices,” Ms Rabinov said. She added that higher interest rates were starting to impact households and this would lead to a more cautious consumer, but business investment was expected to become a significant driver of growth. Solid economic activity in the miningdominated states of Western Australia and
Amber Rabinov, senior economist, ANZ Bank, with David Osborne,(left) chairman of the Monash University, Faculty of Business and Economics Advisory Board - Peninsula Campus, and Peter Krueger, Deputy Head, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University - Peninsula Campus.
the Northern Territory, as well as in Victoria, have helped to support property prices. Moreover, house prices should continue to receive a boost from robust demographics and relatively limited supply dictating tight conditions. Ms Rabinov said that overall it was predicted that the strong outlook forecast for the Australian economy should see interest rates continue to rise, and the
Australian dollar appreciate from current levels. Ms Rabinov gave an outline of the financial market and global economic implications of the European debt crisis before focusing on Australia where the domestic economy outperformed many other advanced economies through the global financial crisis. Ms Rabinov was guest speaker at the third seminar in the 2010 Business Breakfast Seminar series offered by Monash University Faculty of Business and Economics – Peninsula Campus. The breakfast at Steeples Restaurant attracted 75 business and professional guests and senior secondary school students. The fourth in the 2010 Business Breakfast Seminar Series will be on Tuesday, July 27, at Peninsula Country Golf Club, Frankston (Mel 100 12A) when Margot Spalding, of Jimmy Possum Furniture, will deliver an address titled The Jimmy Possum success story – it’s the possums that count! Spalding – Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year, 2006 – acknowledges people as a key attribute to the success of a business. Hear how she chooses her staff, focuses on quality throughout the business and utilises the Jimmy Possum business strategies to achieve results. Details: Narelle Krueger, 9904 4074.
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cover story
L
ooking back, Rob Gell has always made his living from climate change. As a teacher and university lecturer his physical geography classes involved the highs and lows and social implications of agricultural production, tumultuous upheavals the earth has undergone in past ice ages and subsequent warmings.
Then, as a television weatherman (channels 10 and 9) he gave viewers forecasts for the coming days. Now, Gell is one of three principals behind World Wind Pty Ltd a company that helps industry and governments prepare for and benefit from global warming. He is also chair of the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve Foundation Ltd, a name which his finely tuned marketing sensibility tells him is too unwieldy and needs to be shortened. But more about that later. The other two principals behind World Wind are TV’s everyman Eddie McGuire and marketing and communications expert Michael Wall. World Wind’s website says it “identifies the need to do business in new ways in the new millennium”. A “hallmark” of its business strategy is to source new technologies and their application, identify markets, develop prototype strategies and access new clients and key stakeholders. It can provide access “to Australia’s best design, technology, media, advertising and community networks”. Gell admits World Wind “pinched” its name from the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) website of satellite images “because it’s a good fit”. “I’m an environmental entrepreneur – figuring how to develop new ways of doing business and earning a dollar differently to the way it’s now done, which is fundamentally unsustainable,” says Gell who also describes himself as an environmental geographer. wu 12 | BusinessTimes | June 2010
Weatherman
The
Forecasting a need to change climate views WORDS / IMAGES: KEITH PLATT June 2010 | BusinessTimes | 13
cover story He says jobs tackled by World Wind span from retrofitting skyscrapers to be energy efficient and carbon neutral to doing the same thing in producing a cricket bat. Gell, a noted public speaker, rattles off the statistics about when peak levels will be reached for a string of natural resources and says the “concept of infinite resources and infinite growth” is bound to fail. “Economic models are based on infinite resources – an impossibility – and somewhere down the track we’ll realise this doesn’t work any more.” He talks of black swan events “like the Icelandic volcano” and how ridiculously out of touch people are with the land. “Melbourne has water problems, gridlocked roads, bushfires – things that are not measured in economic forecasts or policies like [the State Government’s] Melbourne @ 5 Million.” At home in an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, the recently married Gell and his family have a vegetable garden and buy organic produce at Victoria market because “it’s essential behaviour”. Although it seemed paradoxical to many, Gell once accepted the job of drawing up an environmental management plan for the Melbourne grand prix. “It wasn’t that hard, as the car’s engines are the most fuel efficient made and the noise levels only exceeded regulations in a few areas and only then for a short time.” He says some racing car manufacturers “transfer” technology honed on the circuit to their production models and cites his two-litre diesel Audi as an example. “I’ve also had a Range Rover and a series of BMWs because they were safe and secure.” As the chair of the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve Foundation Ltd Gell is enthusiastic about its future and value to lifestyles and the economy but thought its clunky name needed a makeover. The biosphere’s board has now registered the simpler, user friendly Western Port Biosphere Reserve. He wants to revitalise the impetus and reach of the UNESCO-endorsed biosphere which appears to have languished at a fairly low point in the community’s consciousness since its inception in 2002. He agrees the concept of a biosphere is hard to grasp, let alone market. There are 574 biospheres in 106 countries, 14 in Australia. Biospheres – in Australia – cover usually cover several municipalities with a view to achieving three broad outcomes: conservation, sustainable development and logistic support. Industry, agriculture and urban development can coexist within biospheres. “Industry has nothing to fear,” Gell says. “In fact, operating within a biosphere can be an advantage. “We are not a greenie group. Sustainability creates value for money.” Although receiving backing and encouragement from governments at the time of its formation, the Western
tv
14 | BusinessTimes | June 2010
Television weather presenter Rob Gell, chairman of Western Port Biosphere Reserve: “We’re not just another town planning or green group.” ABOVE RIGHT: Western Port Bay, looking north from Jacks Beach across Sandstone Island toward the Port of Hastings.
Gell met with Malcolm Turbull when he was environment minister in the Howard government and later the current Labor government minister Peter Garrett, but came away from both meetings feeling less than heartened.
Port biosphere has seen next to nothing since. Gell met with Malcolm Turbull when he was environment minister in the Howard government and later the current Labor government minister Peter Garrett, but came away from both meetings feeling less than heartened. Although built into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act, neither government was willing to get involved. The Victorian government has never stepped forward with meaningful funding or resourcing either. One politician who does get a nod of approval is Flinders MP and opposition environment spokesperson Greg Hunt. Gell reels off Hunt’s academic and career highlights, admires his “analytical” mind but believes he is cramped in what he is able to do or advocate by political limitations. As proof, he cites Hunt’s hasty rewrite of the Liberal Party’s attitude to a carbon trading legislation after Turnbull’s replacement as leader by Tony Abbott. However, Gell is optimistic his latest efforts to bring the biosphere to prominence will bear fruit: eventually seeing it adopted as a labelling and selling device for produce from the region. Close links are being made with biospheres in Australia and Europe where they are readily used as a selling point by businesses within their geographic area. The Western Port Biosphere Reserve covers all or part of five municipalities (Frankston, Mornington Peninsula, Bass, Casey and Cardinia) and French Island. The municipalities this year agreed to each pay $20,000 towards running the biosphere. Other money comes from grants and philanthropic organisations. The organisation’s chair since 2005 Gell says he will stay “a few years yet”. The position came with a
BIOSPHERE EXPLAINED A UNESCO biosphere reserve is described as being a living laboratory where people co-operate to develop better ways to manage the Earth’s resources to meet human needs, while conserving natural processes and biodiversity. The Western Port biosphere was chosen in 2002 because the area contains and supports exceptional ecological values on the fringe of a vibrant and expanding city. Biosphere reserves have three functions: • Conservation — To contribute to the conservation of landscapes, ecosystems, species and genetic variation. • Sustainable development — To foster economic and human development that is socio-culturally and ecologically sustainable. • Logistic support — To support research, monitoring, education and information exchange related to conservation and development. The Western Port Biosphere Reserve board is led by chair Rob Gell and includes representatives from the broad community, Victorian Minister for the Environment, Parks Victoria, and five local governments – Mornington Peninsula, Frankston, Casey, Cardinia and Bass. Biosphere reserves are nominated by national governments and remain under the jurisdiction of the states where they are located. Biosphere reserve designation does not alter the legal status of the land included within it.
$5000 stipend which he says he gave back in the first two years “because I could see we couldn’t afford it” and now doesn’t bother collecting at all. The marketing makeover he proposes includes regular meetings with the movers and shakers of the contributing municipalities – the CEOs. “They’ve all come back in and we’ve got the environment being considered at the CEO level. We’re not just another town planning or green group,” Gell says. “They’ve all agreed to go to phase two, which is including the entire Western Port catchment in the biosphere.” He applauds the grass roots-level of commitment and support for making “short steps”, but says ultimate success depends on a “higher level of co-ordination to bring all the players together”. Economic benefits for “sustainable agriculture and sustainable tourism” would prove the worth of the biosphere as they have overseas and in Noosa. “In Germany they use the Rhone biosphere brand for a marketing advantage for wine and vegetables.” A biosphere in South Africa controls the region’s planning scheme and “it’s that type of thinking that, if used elsewhere, could have meant that we would now have a better world”. “All we have been doing is getting rich at the expense of the environment and plundering our grandchildren’s birthright.” Gell likens a biosphere to Rubic’s cube, with systems “containing a matrix of stuff that we need to understand and make work together” instead of the small cubes that need to be manipulated to complete the puzzle. No stranger to the peninsula where he
“All we have been doing is getting rich at the expense of the environment and plundering our grandchildren’s birthright.”
used to holiday as a child, Gell was in the mid-1970s involved in environmental studies of Western Port conducted by Professor Maurice Shapiro which shaped government policy and are still referred to by environmentalists today. “If we’ve got incompatible uses, we need to work out how to work with them so industries don’t just exist in isolation.” A simple example of working within the biosphere philosophy would be to sell locally grown produce locally rather than burning fuel and paying extra to transport them interstate. Gell says that involving the CEOs in the running of the biosphere ensures that the five municipalities are kept informed on the progress and activities of the biosphere. Noosa – a favourite winter playground for many peninsula people – is using its biosphere status as a drawcard. “They’ve given the council’s $250,000 tourism budget to the biosphere because the objectives are the same and they’re using the national park as the core.” Gell says the new attitude towards biospheres differs “from some of the original proponents who thought they could use the UNESCO brand to belt up state governments on such things as channel deepening”. Although he later uses economic arguments and finite resources to argue the case against channel deepening, Gell believes it was unproductive to pit the biosphere against government policy. He is not shy about arguing the toss with governments, but sees it as a negative use of the biosphere. One gets the idea that Gell will be selective in using brand Western Port Biosphere and making sure it remains politically neutral if not politically silent. June 2010 | BusinessTimes | 15
INFRASTRUCTURE
Spill plans ‘adequate’
Shire to push ferry proposal THE Stony Point-Cowes car ferry project will be pushed by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council over the next year. Council announced in its 2010-11 draft budget papers that the next stage of the ferry project was to progress the planning permit and approvals process in consultation with Bass Coast shire and the state government. The ferry project is seen as a key economic development within its 2009-2014 Economic Sustainability Strategy. Council has pointed out that the ferry service is subject to various approvals, including statutory planning approval by each council and Coastal Management Act, and consent from the Department of Sustainability and Environment for the use and development of coastal Crown land. Also, a referral must be made to the State Planning Minister and Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts under the Environmental Effects Act 1978 and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Concept plans published by the council
Cowes Jetty: To the right is the possible terminal site of the proposed car ferry linking Cowes and Stony Point.
show terminals at Stony Point and Cowes near the existing piers. The Stony Point proposal is for a new carpark and pier leading to a berthing dock about 35 m. north of the existing jetty. At Cowes, the idea is for a terrninal 30 m. east of the jetty.
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EMERGENCY plans were in place to adequately cope with an oil spill in Western Port, members of the Port of Hastings Community Reference Group were told at a briefing in May. The group heard that an oil spill was “unlikely” because of the bay’s deep water channel and lack of reef. In any event, a “regularly trained and coordinated local team was in place ready to respond to marine spills”. Marine Safety Victoria outlined how the national, state and regional response teams worked and Esso Australia’s plant manager David Anderson outlined the strategies, training and information sharing processes in place at Esso/BHP Billiton’s Long Island Point plant to prevent environmental impacts from operations and respond to marine pollution incidents in the bay.
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Call the Optus Business Centre Mornington Peninsula on 1800 119 969 or email solutions@ obdirect.com Terms & Conditions: ~ Offer includes $20 price reduction available to new Optus Business Mobile Broadband customers signing up to a new Business Mobile Netbook plan and taking a HP 5102 Netbook on a 24-month contract. The $20 credit will be applied as a credit on either your 1st to 24th bills or your 2nd to 25th bills (depending on bill cycle). Offer only available to 31 July 2010 or whilst stocks last. No rain checks. Credit is not transferable or redeemable for cash. 1. Excess usage charged at $0.15 per MB or part thereof applies. Usage counted in kilobytes (1MB=1024KB) and includes uploads and downloads. International roaming usage is not included in your data limit, additional charges apply. General: Early cancellation fees apply. Offer available to new and recontracting, eligible Small and Medium Business Customers as defined by Optus until withdrawn. Many factors affect Mobile Broadband speeds including volume of network traffic, your equipment, location, software and source of your download. Offer cannot be combined with any other offers or bundled rewards unless stated. For full terms OPTUS9545 and conditions refer to www.optus.com.au/standardagreement. SingTel Optus Pty Ltd ABN 90 052 833 208.
16 | BusinessTimes | June 2010
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16/06/10 1:41 PM
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
COMMUNITY safety and renewal of ageing infrastructure have been targeted in Frankston City’s draft budget for 2010/11. Council says the $119 million budget aims to “balance the need to build new infrastructure, renew existing infrastructure, improve community safety and provide essential services to the community”. The budget relies on a rate increase of 6.5 per cent – 5.4 per cent to fund works and services plus an increase of 1.1 per cent to fund the $700,000 increase in the Waste Levy imposed by the State Government. The state levy has risen from $9 to $30. The municipal charge for 2010/11 will be $113.15. Garbage collection charges will track the rate increase of 6.5 per cent – a 120 litre waste bin will now cost $180.50, an 80 litre waste, $143.65 and a green waste bin, $100.30. The draft budget was approved by council on May 24 and went on public exhibition for 28 days. Borrowings totalling $2.5 million have been foreshadowed in the budget to help finance a capital works program of $42.49 million. The capital works budget includes $5.96 million of carried forward projects, fully funded from the 2009-10 budget. Council said works would include better recreation and community facilities; improved drainage infrastructure; upgraded footpaths and roads; and increased safety and effectiveness of community amenities. Rates on property are expected to yield $56.54 million, including $600,000 generated from supplementary rates on new properties. Of the 5.4 per cent increase, 2.2 per cent will go toward maintaining current service levels and the remaining 3.2 per cent increase will finance capital works addressing asset renewal needs of the city. Council said the proposed rate increase was in line with its strategy. The rate increase for 2009-10 was 6.9 per cent. The general rate for residential property will charged at 0.2600 per cent of the property’s capital improved value. And in a move to persuade owners of rundown properties to tidy up, the council proposes a higher rate of 0.7800 per cent to premises unoccupied for more than three months and deemed under council by-laws to be in a dilapidated state. Land with a retail or commercial use, located in the Frankston Central Activity District (generally bounded by Fletcher Rd, Plowman Pl., the foreshore and O’Grady Av) will be charged a rate of 0.3250 per cent of CIV. • Operating result: Surplus of $9.85 million expected for the 2010/11 year, a decrease of $7.16 million compared with 2009/10. The reduced operating result is due mainly to the reduction of external funding for capital works which is forecast
Rate spend earmarked for safety, city assets The money trail
Olivers Hill, Frankston
to decrease by $4.9 million to $2.9 million; and the rising costs of services. The underlying result, which excludes items such as capital grants and contributions is a deficit of $0.13 million. (The forecast underlying result for the 2009/10 year is again a surplus of $1.87 million). • Financial position: expected to improve with net assets (net worth) to increase by $58 million to $1.1 billion, although net current assets (working capital) will reduce by $10.1 million to $11.5 million as at 30 June 2011. This is mainly due to the increased capital works program, reduced government grants received and increases in employee costs. (Total equity is forecast to be $1,039 million as at 30 June 2009). • Employee costs: forecast to increase by 8.1 per cent or $3.53 million compared to 2009/10. This increase relates to anticipated negotiation of Council’s Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) which will determine wage and salary growth; and growth in Equivelent Full Time (EFT) numbers anticipated to accommodate growth in the municipality in the areas of safety, foreshore and park management, planning and family and children’s services.
Capital works / major projects • $2.5 m. design of a regional aquatic centre (dependant upon state and federal contributions) • $1.338 m. Belvedere Reserve improvements (AFL Saints new training facility) • $1.332 m. Keast Park improvements. • $1.139 m. Frankston Mechanic’s Hall refurbishment • $1 m. Frankston Oval grandstand redevelopment Roads • $2.491 m. road reconstruction and resurfacing • $300,000 upgrade works to neighbourhood shopping centres • $1 m. installation of traffic devices across the municipality • $540,000 City wide Pathway and Cycle Way plan • $850,000 Frankston Bicycle Strategy • $602,000 pathway renewal • $52,000 installation of air-conditioning and heating at Lyrebird Community Centre and Karingal Place • $250,000 for additional playroom at Mahogany Rise Family and Youth Hub • $450,000 for playground upgrades and associated works. Environment, Family & Children’s Services • $31,000 increased grants to neighbourhood houses • $50,000 for an alternate energy study • $210,000 continued installation of sustainable street lighting • $1 m to continue with roll out of Greening Frankston Community • $50,000 for funding of a Volunteer Resource Centre • $360,000 for Frankston Community Information support and Youth resource centre • $1.1 m. for Ebdale Community Hub Upgrade • $733,000 upgrades to Frankston Art Centre Community Safety • $650,000 to improve community safety • $150,000 additional funds for emergency management • $30,000 additional contribution towards Ventana Latina Fiesta • $40,000 for additional park litter patrols • $415,000 for Waterfront Festival, Pets Day Out, Christmas Lights Festival and the Sand Sculpting exhibition.
June 2010 | BusinessTimes | 17
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Levy on Main St
BUSINESSES in Main St, Mornington, face an annual special charge from council over the next five years to help boost business in the town. The council moved in late May to declare the special charge scheme which will cost businesses between $150 and $350 a year. Corporate shopping centres like Mornington Central will pay $1000. The charge will apply from July 1, this year, and over the five years is expected to raise a maximum of $536,000 The levy will increase annually to reflect Consumer Price Index increases in the previous year. Council said the money reaped from businesses would help defray advertising, promotion, centre management, business development and other expenses associated with the encouragement of commerce in Main St shopping centre The levy varies from $350 for a Main St frontage at street level to $150 for a business at the rear of Main St which is above or below street level or set back. A notice will be sent to those liable for the charge , payable by one annual payment or by four equal instalments each year. Council will absorb all administrative costs associated with implementation of the scheme. Council reconfirmed that Mornington Chamber of Commerce must enter into a formal agreement with council for management of the funds before the special charge or any part of it is paid to the chamber. 18 | BusinessTimes | July 2010
All rise, sayeth the shire MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire Council will effectively raise rates by 6.2 per cent pending acceptance of its 2010-11 draft budget. Also, the shire will raise its municipal charge by $10 (or 7.7 per cent) to $140, jettisoning its stated goal in its three-year Strategic Resource Plan to peg the charge at $130. In this revaluation year, council says properties generally have risen in value by 10.3 per cent. So, while property owners will see their ‘rate in the dollar’ drop by a little over 4 per cent, they’ll still pay more to fund council works and services. The yield from rates and charges will be $104.2 million, including $650,000 generated from supplementary rates and $600,000 growth in the rate base from the previous year’s supplementary rates. The council said that in general terms, funds available – the money remaining after paying for normal operations – will increase by $1.875m on the previous year. This is due in large part to the increase in rate revenue and will finance proposed capital works, particularly drainage. The operating result, without carry over capital and priority works and projects, is expected to be a deficit of $526,000 which will be funded from the sale of excess and inappropriate assets, said council. Overall, a small budgeted surplus of $79,000 on the year’s operations is expected. Mayor Cr David Gibb said council had budgeted for the next stage of its 10-year $30 million flood mitigation and drainage strategy.
“The need was underlined by drainage issues caused by the amazing downpours in May,” he said. “We will continue to make the Mornington Peninsula as ‘fire safe’ as possible within budget constraints. “The annual expenditure for vegetation trimming and removal was raised on a permanent basis last year. “We look forward to the findings of the Bushfires’ Royal Commission and hope that any recommended outcomes are appropriately funded by the State Government and not ‘cost shifted’ to councils. The budget continues the practice over the past 10 years of steadily increasing its commitment to the renewal, maintenance and upgrading of the shire’s existing $1.4 billion infrastructure asset base. At the same time, money collected by council is financing new infrastructure in response to community needs and expectations, Cr Gibb said. Waste disposal will cost more because of a hefty increase to pay the EPA landfill levy which increased by 233 per cent from July 1 Waste disposal tipping fees and charges have been increased by $2.4 million for the next year. Council said residents would be encouraged to sort their waste to reduce their tipping costs and to protect and prolong the longevity of the shire’s tipping space at the landfill site in Rye Garbage collection, apart from the cost of extra bins, is included in the general rate. The number of tip vouchers for each property will drop from four to three.
Tired of the drive, get in for your chopper
The Bell Longranger 3 helicopter takes off from the Sorrento clifftop base of Southern Peninsula Rescue Squad.
Anyone getting tired of the daily grind of driving to work may take a flight of fancy and bid for a helicopter being sold by the Southern Peninsula Rescue Squad. The squad has been using the chopper 1992 Bell Longranger 3 chopper since 1994, but now says it is not called out on enough rescues to justify the aircraft’s upkeep. Although the chopper cost $1.6 million in 1994 it is reportedly in good condition and has done relatively little work for a machine of its age. Estimates vary, but the chopper could fetch $1.5m to $1.9m.
Community fund
Luis and Gloria Gazzola (left) with Joanne and Paul Gazzola after Luis received his lifetime achievement award from AUSVEG.
Award for a life on the land SOMERVILLE vegetable grower Luis Gazzola has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award for services to the vegetable industry. The presentation was made at the vegetable and potato industry’s (AUSVEG) national awards on the Gold Coast in late May. Gazzola Farms also won the Industry Impact Award, sponsored by Boomaroo Nurseries. Mr Gazzola, president of the Vegetable Growers Association of Victoria, was described by AUSVEG communications manager Hugh Tobin as a national icon in the industry. “Luis is the classic example of a vegetable grower who has persevered and succeeded against the many challenges of working the land. “Everyone was excited when the award was announced. He really is an iconic figure in the Australian vegetable industry who deserves recognition and it was great to see his wife and sons also recognised for their support,” Mr Tobin said. AUSVEG is the national peak industry body representing 9000 vegetable and potato growers around Australia.
A 53-year veteran of the industry, Mr Gazzola thanked his family for their support, including his third generation vegetable growing sons, Paul, Colin and Andrew, and his wife Gloria. Mr Gazzola’s father migrated from Italy in 1925 at the age of 21. Mr Gazzola served his apprenticeship growing vegetables very early in life. He grew up on the land with his family, working beside his dad from the age of 10, after school, on weekends and in school holidays. “The history of the Gazzolas in the Australian vegetable industry is extraordinary. In the decades that Luis has been in the industry there have been substantial changes to the way the industry operates and it’s quite a challenge to be able to adapt to these changes and continue to be successful. Luis’ continuing passion for the industry is amazing,” Hugh Tobin said. Gazzola Farms, Bungower Rd, now employs around 44 full-time staff and has operated in Somerville since 1992. AUSVEG chairman John Brent was by joined all the industry group’s directors to make the presentation to Mr Gazzola at Jupiters Hotel-Casino on Saturday, May 29.
FRANKSTON City’s emerging community fund has received a pledge from its partner that will effectively double donations up to a value of $100,000 over the next 12 months. The Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation will match donations to Frankston Community Fund up to $100,000 until June, 2011. Frankston’s fund is in partnership with the foundation. The aim of the fund is to grow a perpetual source of income for the 630 local community groups and charitable organisations supporting the health and welfare of Frankston. Businesses wanting to help now may choose to either donate to the fund or direct funds to the charity or community group of their choice. Frankston is one of only seven out of 79 councils in Victoria to run a community fund. All gifts, donations, bequests of $2 or more are tax deductible. Council has appointed project coordinator Katrina Flannery to help establish the fund. Contact her on 0437 983 242, 9783 1764 or katrinaflannery@frankston.vic.gov.au
It’s a beauty Frankston City is a finalist in nine categories of the Keep Australia Beautiful Sustainable City Awards 2010, including being one of five finalists for the overall award. Frankston was named national winner of the award in 2008.
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June 2010 | BusinessTimes | 19
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
City plans extensive lobbying in poll year FRANKSTON Council is using state and federal elections this year to lobby hard for extra services and facilities. Already it has announced that it will spend more than $126,000 for a public relations company to lobby both levels of government. As well, the city’s opportunism is clearly revealed in its newlyadopted four-year plan. Mayor Christine Richards and CEO George Modrich use the plan’s introduction to state how council will press the other levels of government for commitments to community safety, a regional aquatic centre, central Frankston public transport interchange improvements and support to expand the city’s initiatives on alternative water supplies. The council plan is a requirement under the Local Government Act and must be submitted to the Local Government Minister every four years. Cr Richards and Mr Modrich used the plan to point out that council’s stance on safety was fortified this year with a commitment of about $700,000 to community safety initiatives, including a security guard trial, expected to start later this year, and a trial of a ‘no smoking’ zone within the Central Activities District. Principal undertakings in the fouryear plan include development of the asset management strategy; local area planning (giving the community a say on how their neighbourhoods are shaped); and a climate change impact and adaptation plan. The mayor and CEO said a review of key plans such as the Tafe-to-Bay structure plan and implementation of the housing growth requirements report, expected from state government early next year, “are key activities shaping the future of Frankston”. Council expects spending to keep pace with increasing revenues over the next four years, with deficits creeping up, but dropping in 2014 to just under $12 m. Employee costs are expected to rise from $45.88 m. in 2011 to $53.94 in 2014. 20 | BusinessTimes | July 2010
Planners looking at population pressure THE spectre of development pressures associated with accelerating population growth on the Mornington Peninsula has shire officials on their guard. The Mornington Peninsula council’s CEO, Dr Michael Kennedy, said that continuing pressures of Melbourne’s quickening growth “could see increased population pressure on our shire, so we need to continue to plan strategically for our future”. Dr Kennedy stated in his 2010-11 budget outline that the shire’s “past and planned efforts in addressing the State’s Melbourne 2030/ Melbourne @ 5 million plans should mean that the character of our local towns and villages, and our more than 70 per cent green wedge areas will be well protected”. However, he added, a ‘stretching’ strategic
planning agenda required work in relation to activity centres, the Green Wedge, housing and employment, as well as a range of specific planning projects focused on the coast. Planning for the shire’s built environment over the next 12 months includes continued development of structure plans for Rosebud and Hastings activity centres. Other projects starting or continuing include a general parking precinct plan and a specific parking precinct plan for Mornington. A number of projects started in 2009-10 will continue. Heritage protection strategies will include formalising of the role of local history officer into a part time position. The 2010-11budget includes money for a full time worker for the shire’s new Eco Living Centre at The Briars, Mt Martha.
Housing development in East Mornington is covering the rolling landscape between Nepean Highway and Moorooduc Rd.
Melbourne wharfage fees rise from July 1 PORT of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC) wharfage charges for loaded 20ft containers have risen $2 to $38 while empty container charges jumped 40 cents to $9. The increases, exclusive of GST, represent rises of 5.5 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively and applied from July 1 The infrastructure levy to recover costs for channel deepening rose 80 cents to $33.10, plus GST. PoMC CEO Stephen Bradford, said that
increases were generally within a range of 4 to 7.5 per cent with the exception of fees for liquid bulk and motor vehicle trades. He said an increase in liquid bulk fees by 39 cents a tonne would better reflect costs of providing infrastructure and services associated with the trade, together with the costs of managing environmental considerations including remediation of contaminated land. Motor vehicle fees will increase by an average of $3.80 a unit to $22.62, plus GST.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Tax free nest egg TAX deductible superannuation contributions are capped at $25,000 for those under 50 years of age and $50,000 for those over 50. This puts stringent limits on what you can accumulate as a tax free nest egg on retirement, according to senior accountant Andrew Bragg, of Mornington-based MBA Business Solutions. “The only way to burst through this limit and to advance your superannuation to much higher levels is to gear your superannuation by way of a property warrant,” Bragg said. Property warrants enable a self-managed superannuation fund to gear a residential property or a commercial property, depending on the superannuant’s investment preference. Choosing a well-placed property can add a significant amount to your super fund balance. The geared property compounds the increase of the superannuation fund assets at a much higher level and allows superannuants to control where their money is invested and follow the tried and true investment of direct property. The added tax advantage of this structure for the more conservative superannuant is that excess cash in the superannuation fund can help pay off loan principal on the geared property at a 15 per cent tax rate rather than paying off loan principal outside of superannuation, potentially all the way up to 46.5 per cent tax. “The government is restricting our ability to provide enough private funds for our own retirement by limiting superannuation contributions so if you are adept at property investment and believe in controlling your own financial future then you should look at property warrants as a means to reach your retirement goals,” Bragg said. Andrew Bragg, senior accountant, MBA Business Solutions, Mornington, can be contacted on 5970 8100, email: team@mbabusinesssolutions.com.au
Don’t drop the basket! Conventional wisdom, or, as some would put it, common sense dictates that it is always a good idea to spread your “wealth eggs” across a range of different baskets to avoid financial Armageddon should you trip. Many small business owners, though, spend their lives one precarious step away from financial disaster with themselves as the
only egg in the only basket – their business – which is often their biggest asset. With many small businesses owner-dependent it is critical that owners actively consider the risks to their business should they fall ill or stop work for other health reasons. Critical questions to be asked include: • How long could your business last without you there full time on site making the decisions? • If you are ill for an extended period of time what value does your business have, can it run without you? • Have you stress tested your business under several scenarios involving the incapacity or serious illness of you and your key staff? In many instances simple cost effect insurances and a detailed “what if” plan can provide a backstop to secure your “basket” from that unfortunate and unexpected stumble. As with so many clichéd phrases, failing to plan for illness and incapacity of senior people in a business can be fatal. by Alan Williams, a principal of Flinders Partners, 9781 3155
New business course Monash University’s Faculty of Business and Economics will deliver a new innovative undergraduate business degree program at Peninsula Campus in 2011. The new program, based on the Bachelor of Business degree, is designed to produce business graduates who are self directed, solutions driven, effective communicators, who have extensive experience at solving business problems under conditions of complexity and uncertainty. The focus of this new program is on getting students to take responsibility for their own learning and two key features of the program are designed to ensure that students have plenty of opportunities for this to occur. First is the program’s emphasis on self directed problem-based learning which requires students to dig deeper and wider for study material, distinguish the relevant from the trivial, and explain to fellow students and staff what they have learned for themselves. Second is a mandatory work integrated learning internship or individual research project during which students will put into practice what they have learned in the classroom. For students undertaking this new program the on-campus experience will be completely different to that offered in other
business programs at Monash and indeed at any other business program in Victoria. For a start there will be no traditional lecture and tutorials. Instead, each day will start with the presentation of a problem and a brief discussion of possible approaches to solving it. Then working in small groups, students will spend the rest of the morning identifying issues and exploring possible solutions. In the early afternoon each group will discuss its progress with a mentor before finalising their solution to the problem. At the end of the day groups will present and defend their solution and receive feedback on the work undertaken. It means fewer assignments and other private study requirements and less emphasis on end of semester exams as a means of testing knowledge. But it also means students must be on campus four full days a week. Details: Faculty of Business and Economics , (03) 990 44314 or visit the Monash Peninsula Campus on Open Day (Saturday, July 31). There will be the opportunity to listen to presentations and to talk to staff involved in the development and delivery of the program
Write to rank In today’s technological age you would be forgiven for thinking that the art of writing is dead. But the opposite is true. In fact anyone who has investigated the art of ranking in Google knows that now more than ever it’s all about the words. Keywords is today’s buzz word because it’s the carefully chosen words that will make all the difference to being found on the web. Google and other search engines love words – it’s one of the main ways they can determine what your site is about. Sounds logical right? Not necessarily. You see search engines, although very clever don’t have the human ability to read sentences or paragraphs and understand what they mean. However, what they can do is look for specific words within that text and use them to determine whether they are a good match for a particular search. So if you place the right words in the right places where the search engines can find them in your website (called targeting), you’re helping them do their job, and that is to help people find what their looking for. A search engine’s success, like any business, depends on being better than the competition. That means delivering accurate and relevant search results for wu 38 July 2010 | BusinessTimes | 21
ARTS
Something about Florence
Henri Szeps (left) and Garry McDonald.
WIN TICKETS: Two tickets to see Halpern & Johnson … send your name & address on an envelope to: Halpern & Johnson/Business Times Competition, Frankston Art Centre, PO Box 490, Frankston, 3199, drop your entry at the Box Office, or email your contact details to competition@frankston.vic.gov.au Add “Halpern & Johnson/BusinessTimes Competition” in the subject line. Closing date: Monday 12 July; draw Tuesday 13 July. Please indicate if you do not wish to join FAC’s mailing list.
Garry McDonald and Henri Szeps reunite for Halpern & Johnson, award-winning drama about two very different men with one surprising thing in common. The classic grumpy old man, Joseph Halpern (Henri Szeps) is a recent widower who seems incapable of expressing his sense of loss and love for his deceased wife Florence. At her graveside he is joined by a stranger, Dennis Johnson (Garry McDonald), who unexpectedly describes Florence with more affection than just a dear, departed friend… With warmth and wit, Lionel Goldstein’s play explores the complex web of marriage and friendship, secrets and lies, mixing sharp human insight with cracking humour. Garry McDonald and Henri Szeps are brilliant as these two polar opposites in this touching and funny play about love, loyalty and betrayal. The Ensemble Theatre’s sell-out 2007
production demonstrated that their chemistry as performers has not diminished since their Mother and Son days. “… McDonald and Szeps are outrageously good at the subtle nuances of human behaviour… This is the stuff of great human drama… the kind of theatre that people want to pay to see…” – Australian Stage Online The Australian Government is proud to be associated with this tour through the national performing arts touring program, Playing Australia, which gives Australians across the country the opportunity to see some of our best performing arts. This tour has been made possible by the New South Wales Government through Arts NSW. Frankston Arts Centre; Tues 20 July @ 8pm*, Wed 21 July 1pm; 1 hour 50 mins inc. interval. Adult $47, Group 10+ $40 ea, Concession $42, Under 25 $26, Matinee $42 *Captioned Performance.
By arrangement with Hal Leonard Australia Pty Ltd on behalf of Carol Durbin Productions Inc.
An Ensemble Theatre Production
Halpern & Johnson
by Lionel Goldstein
July: Tuesday 20 @ 8pm*, Wednesday 21 @ 1pm
Garry McDonald (Dennis Johnson) and Henri Szeps (Joseph Halpern) reunite for this award-winning drama by Lionel Goldstein. With warmth and wit, the play explores the complex web of marriage and friendship, secrets and lies, mixing sharp human insight with cracking humour. Joseph Halpern is mourning the loss of his wife Florence, taking a few minutes alone by her graveside, when he is approached by a stranger introducing himself as Dennis Johnson. As the two men talk, Johnson reveals an affection for Flo that is more than that for a dear, departed friend and in so doing uncovers more than just the secret of their relationship. “McDonald and Szeps are outrageously good... the kind of theatre that people want to pay to see.” Australian Stage Online Frankston Arts Centre Tickets & Enquiries: 9784 1060 or www.artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au * Captioned performance
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WHEN THE FOOTY DOESN’T QUITE HIT THE MARK... E N T E R TA I N I N A D I F F E R E N T L E A G U E
T H A N K C L I E N T S , E N T E R TA I N P R O S P E C T S , V I P PA C K A G E S , M E E T T H E S TA R S , P R E - S H O W D I N I N G , R E WA R D S TA F F, B U I L D T E A M S , I C O N I C L A N D M A R K , 2 7 5 , 0 0 0 V I S I T O R S , 8 0 0 S E AT T H E AT R E ,
FRANKSTON ARTS CENTRE
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C U B E 3 7 – A R T S T O S E E A N D D O , F U N C T I O N C E N T R E , TA R G E T N E W A U D I E N C E S , B U I L D B R A N D
nappa leather. Visually the sporting Audi benefits from the RS additions and clearly makes it known that it means business. You don’t have to take the fixed rear spoiler – there’s an optional electronically retractable spoiler. You can also order conventional bucket seats instead of the tightwinged sports seats that may not suit every body shape. The entire interior is finished in black with matt brushed aluminium inlays and footrest and pedals in aluminium look. TT RS logos adorn the door sill trim, tachometer and flat-bottomed steering wheel. Silver welts frame the floor mats and the door openers - as in all RS models – comprise two narrow bars. The rear seat is ridiculously tight, but the double seat folds down to increase boot space from a reasonable 290 litres right up to very handy 700 litres. To be honest we feel Audi should give up on the rear seat altogether, trimming weight and complication by doing so. Then again, there are times when kids simply have to be shoehorned in there for short distances. Audi TT RS has daytime running lights in the xenon headlight surrounds in what is rapidly becoming an Audi tradition. This isn’t a car for everyone. Some will find it rather firm on the road, or not particularly like the tight seats. But they should realise the benefits gained from these apparent minuses are there purely for the keen driver. The person not willing to compromise will love everything about this hot little Audi.
AT A GlANCE Audi TT RS 2.5-litre two-door
coupe: $133,700 (manual) FEATURES ABS brakes: Standard Air conditioning: Standard Auto transmission: Not offered CD player: Standard Central locking: Standard Cruise control: Standard Dual front airbags: Standard Front side airbags: Standard Stability control: Standard Traction control: Standard SPECIFICATIONS (Audi TT RS 2.5-litre two-door coupe) ENGINE Engine capacity: 2.480 litres Configuration: Five cylinders in line Head design: dOHC, four valves per cylinder Compression ratio: 10.0:1 Bore/stroke: 82.5 x 92.8 mm Maximum power: 250 kW @ 5400-6500 rpm Maximum torque: 450 Nm @ 1600-5300 rpm
DRIVELINE Driven wheels: AWd Manual transmission: Six-speed DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CAPACITIES Length: 4198 mm Wheelbase: 2468 mm Width: 1842 mm Height: 1342 mm Fuel Tank Capacity: 60 litres SUSPENSION AND BRAKES Front suspension: Independent, MacPherson struts, lower wishbones, anti-roll bar Rear suspension: Four-link, separate spring/shock absorber arrangement, anti-roll bar Front/rear brakes: Ventilated disc PERFORMANCE 0-100 km/h Acceleration: 4.6 secs FUEL USE / EMISSIONS RATING / WARRANTY Type: Petrol 98RON Combined cycle (AdR 81/01): 9.2 L/100km Warranty: 3 years/unlimited km
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Audi Mornington 117 Mornington–Tyabb Road Mornington | Tel. 03 5975 5455 | www.audimornington.com.au LMCT 10395
July 2010 | BusinessTimes | 25
NEWSWHEELS
This is one hot little Audi TT What a blast! We are currently road testing the RS version of the Audi TT coupe and are enjoying every minute of our time in the hot little German machine. For those of you who don’t know Audi’s nomenclature, the RS format cars are the hottest high-performance models in the marque’s range.
Big back wing, huge wheels and a sports front-end treatment – there’s nothing subtle about this little Audi!
And high-performance is the right phrase, a very quick zero to 100 km/h in just 4.6 seconds sets the scene for the quickest of the quick in the TT range. Under that beautifully styled bonnet is an all-new engine from Audi; a turbocharged five-cylinder unit developing 250 kW of power and 450 Nm of torque. That’s a lot in a small car like this and it makes for a huge amount of fun. While we do enjoy a big cars with large engines, there’s something about the added agility you get from moving less mass that makes it feel just right on the road. Audi TT RS is speed-limited to 250 km/h, but the engineers offer a package that allows it to stretch its legs out to 280 km/h – obviously aimed at those who take their adrenalin on the race track. The engine redlines at 6800 rpm and is very enthusiastic, with a throaty exhaust roar that sounds just right. A bit more volume would have been appreciated, but turbo engines all tend to have a muted note. We like the fact that the Audi TT RS sticks to true sports car tradition by only being sold with a manual gearbox, a six-speed unit. OK, so it can be argued that a double-clutch gearbox has faster shifts, and might even be able to trim a couple of tenths off the zero to 100 sprint, but full-on driving enthusiasts just love the feeling of doing their own gearshifts to perfection. Fuel consumption isn’t unreasonable for a car with this performance potential, though it’s not low in absolute terms. Typically it will use about 10 to 13 litres per hundred kilometres around town or in commuting driving. On the open road it will cruise in the nine to ten litre range. Fanging it along could see it
24 | BusinessTimes | July 2010
Ewen Kennedy* Motoring Journalist
go over 15 litres per hundred kilometres, but this is a high-performance sports machine so that’s acceptable. The sports suspension system features Audi’s magnetic ride technology for nearly instantaneous reactions to changing road surfaces and cornering conditions. There’s a two-stage sport button that turns off the ESP (Electronic Stability Program) when you feel you’re better off without it. The Audi RS clings to the tarmac with tenacity, turns in nicely, even at high cornering efforts and, being relatively light, is nimble on its wheels. There’s just a slight hint of understeer on the tighter corners at big speeds, but it’s not to an objectionable sense that could spoil the driving pleasure. We spent a lot of time punting through some of our favourite hills in third gear, finding it had enough torque in most situations between the lower end of the range coming out of bends and pushing fast between corners. Peak torque is on tap between a low 1600 rpm and right through to 5300 rpm reducing gear changes on cruisy or commuting driving, though when they are hitting it hard keen drivers may like to keep that gearbox working just for the hell of it. And isn’t that what owning a car like this sports Audi is all about? Standard for the Audi as imported to Australia is extensive; with 19-inch alloy wheels, a DVD-based navigation system and specific TT RS bucket seats in
Advertising feature
Increasing you profits
Why you should have a blog (yes, you!) Peter Wrench
YOU want to increase your profits. Where do you start? First, you need to determine where you are. Just saying you want to increase your profitability 25 per cent is meaningless unless you have some benchmark to measure against. You need to discover what your average dollar sale is and what your current profit margins are. Going into this exercise you might be tempted into thinking reducing costs is the key to higher profits. Keeping costs down is important, but if you really want to make more money, you have to increase your income. Also, focus a lot of your efforts on marketing – an area most business people view as an expense. Start thinking of marketing as an investment – with every new customer viewed as a customer you have just bought.. Spend at least 50 per cent of your time in this area of your business. Generally, increased profits come from four areas: a better handle on management, money, marketing and merchandise. These “4 M’s of Profit” work together to help boost your bottom-line, and you can take a few things from more extensive strategies in each category to start leveraging your profits right now. Start these Seven things now and the income statement will look better next year: 1) Provide team training. This is a management task, but one that can really improve your company’s overall performance. 2) Segment your current customers into four grades: A’s, B’s, C’s and D’s. Concentrate on your A customers. They are the most profitable, most loyal and best source of referrals. Sack your C and D customers – too much effort for too little return. 3) Keep track of costs and set budgets. Spend a whole week and check every expense. 4) Increase your margins and prices. This may be counter-intuitive and terrifying, but it is the easiest way to immediately increase profits. 5) Stop discounting. When you stop discounting, you literally stop giving money away. 6) Make it easy to buy. Look to lower the barriers of doing business with you at every level. Once you have the customer, make sure you do everything to help them spend as much with you as possible. 7) Down-sell. Basically, no customer leaves your premises without buying something. If you know a customer can’t afford a higher priced item, show that item to the customer first, then offer the lower priced item as an alternative. Another strategy that could leverage your profits – create your own private brand or label. In some retail outlets, the private labels outsell the big brand names – at margins higher than the big brands could ever get.
A blog (short for weblog) is basically an online journal, just another type of website that is updated on a regular basis with articles on latest events, your business news, images, videos and even audio. That’s great, but isn’t it just for kids or techie types with too much time to kill? Well, no. Every business should have a blog. If you have a website you must have a blog attached to it. Why? A few very important reasons... • A blog increases your leads. When you post quality content and useful advice you come across as an expert in your field and word gets around that you have some great content, so naturally you get more visitors and more leads, as shown in this graph. • It will increase your Google ranking. Regularly updating your site makes Google visit more often and by default you will also end up with more pages on your site with each post, which Google loves, as you see in this graph. And as you develop links to other blogs (by making quality comments on them) it provides more links to your site, which is another key factor in lifting your Google ranking. • Except for the time it will take you to keep your blog updated, it is free. • Anyone can do it; you do not have to be one of the ‘big guys’ to have a great blog with many followers. • A blog gives website visitors a reason to come back more than once to check for updates, making your website work harder for the money you spent on it. So now that know why you should have your own blog, have a look at the web’s best resource on how to blog, which is, funnily enough, a blog: www.problogger.net. And, trust me: blogging can be enjoyable and even addictive. Jim Schaefer is director of The Schaefer Group, a Carrum Downs based marketing & communications agency. Contact Jim on 03 9770 8880 for your free 1-hour consultation. See Jim’s blog at www.salesmarketingmelbourne.com.au/blog
people people people people people people people
in in in in in in in
03 9781 4442 | www.ppr-recruitment.com.au dolphin house | 405 nepean hwy frankston victoria 26 | BusinessTimes | June 2010
finance & accounting manufacturing logistics & warehousing transport sales & marketing administration property & law
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by Peter Wrench Action Coach Mornington Peninsula 0407 846809 / peterwrench@actioncoach.com
managing
Guided by values Throughout time sailors have used a lodestar to guide them through dark nights at sea, as a lodestar like Polaris provides constant direction, irrespective of how turbulent the seas become. Today, as businesses navigate turbulent economic times, their organisational values should provide the same guidance and stability. All organisations have a set of values that guide the behaviour of their people. In large organisations, it is usual to articulate these values, write them down and refer to them frequently to reinforce to all employees that values are a lot more than just a set of words. Within small organisations, values are usually derived directly from the business owner’s set of personal values and may not be articulated or written down. Either way, there should be are clear expectations for all employees on limits of acceptable behaviour. Just as organisations have values, so too do individuals. Your individual values are derived from your experiences during your growth years, and are usually an amalgam of values taught to you by your parents, your school teachers, your peers and other who have been influential in shaping your personality. Often, these personal values are developed as a result of the cultural and religious beliefs of your extended family. Ideally, individuals joining an organisation should consider the alignment between their personal values and the organisation’s values. Similarly, during recruitment, organisations should evaluate each candidate’s personal values to ensure that they are compatible with their organisational values. If you are running a small business, it is important for you to be very clear about your values so that they become embedded in your business processes and people. Careful selection of your values will give you the best chance to support your strategy and achieve your business targets through the behaviour of your people. Organisations’ values are critical to success in all business conditions as they define how individuals should behave particularly with customers and suppliers. Making decisions in organisations with clear values becomes easier as values clearly articulate the ideal state and guide your people to make the best practical decision, or else to know
Hamish Petrie* Business Consultant
‘Ideally, individuals joining an organisation should consider the alignment between their personal values and the organisation’s values.’ when to raise an issue with their supervisor. Without clear values, employees, customers and suppliers may make their own decisions on how they want to conduct business, sometimes to the detriment of the business. Values are also increasingly important to the community in which you operate as values again define how your people will behave in all interactions with your community. Some research has shown that there are over 100 human values. Selection and combination of the values can help to articulate your organisational finger print. There are many examples of values for all sizes and types of organisations, and some of the most common corporate values include: treating people with dignity and respect; compliance with laws and rules; customer obsession; suppliers; safety and health; environment; accountability; profitability; change; and teamwork. Each business’s challenge is to clearly select and define their values, to interpret them clearly for everyone who interfaces with the business and to then select to do business with organisations and people who have values which align with yours. Once your organisation reaches this state, then it becomes easy for your people to make decisions as the values will always be their lodestar to guide and support their decisions. Once you have reached this state of maturity, then sustaining the values can become a challenge. Changing expectations and people may create a need to refresh values and this is best done in conjunction with the opinion leaders in your business.
This may be your business lead team, the senior managers and employee representatives, and could include representatives from your customers, suppliers or community. Designing a review process can be complex, but the more people that contribute to this process, the more people will have ownership of the new values. As always, leadership behaviour during this process is absolutely critical to ensure that behaviour matches with the words. Sometimes, it is difficult for simple values statement to be interpreted across a range of languages and cultures particularly when locations are international or you have employees from diverse ethnic backgrounds. In these cases, there may be benefit in developing a supporting level of behavioural principles for each of the higher level values. These can be more specific statements that help to define clearly both the ideal behaviours and the boundaries of acceptable behaviours. Another challenge is to develop a method to close the loop so that you can be confident that the actions of people are clearly compatible with your values. There are several mechanisms that can be used to achieve this. One method is to use employee surveys where specific questions can be asked regarding observed behaviours. Another method is to identify the jobs that may be at higher risk of inappropriate behaviour and to ask people in these positions for specific feedback. Overall, values are a critical piece of the business puzzle and require your leadership group to constantly reinforce them through their own actions and words. When this is done well, values will guide your organisation successfully through both the good and bad times.
Action planning questions Questions that might stimulate you to review how values are contributing to the success of your business: • Does your business have a clear set of values that are current in today’s context? • How do you reinforce these in your actions and words? • How have you handled people who have contravened your values? • Are your values evident to suppliers, customers and your community? • Do you have a process to measure compliance with your values? *Hamish Petrie had a 37-year corporate career including 29 years with Alcoa Inc. His last position was as VP–People and Communication for the global Alcoa corporation based in New York, NY. He can be contacted at hamish@nitroworld.net or on 0404 345 103. June 2010 | BusinessTimes | 27
REDUCING OUR FOOTPRINT
[
A carbon footprint is the total amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases emitted over the full life cycle of a product or service – or in a financial year for business
By Tony Murrell
YOU start anything from scratch, especially in an area where your knowledge base is akin to a black hole, and it can be frustrating. Taking a step at a time, researching and asking a lot of questions can keep at bay that creeping irritability when you catch yourself saying ‘why can’t it happen now?’. It’s been that way with our commitment to make the BusinessTimes operation carbon neutral by the end of its first year of operation, or sooner if possible. Once you dig in, a host of possibilities are uncovered – methods of measuring carbon emissions, ways to reduce your carbon footprint, the type of offsets you choose, the accountability of those offering to effect the offsets and how much you pay for this service. Of course there’s a pre-process involved if your business includes more than one decision-maker: you need everyone on board and that can be a challenge, too. Mainly, the first reaction is, hey, this smells like money – how much will it cost? It’s a fair question, especially for a new business with four partners and all the attendant costs of a start-up. But it’s not only the cost of carbon offsets (forestry, methane projects, renewable energy etc.), it’s about making a concerted effort to reduce emissions – using the vehicles less, turning off the power when equipment is not in use, cutting waste, sourcing green energy and so on. First up, working out your carbon footprint can be tricky – many business types have their unique carbon polluting ways and measuring them is sometimes difficult. Type the words ‘carbon neutral’ into your preferred search engine and you’ll soon find sites promising to calculate your footprint with ease. We have found that some do, some don’t. The offset trade may have slipped a little judging by the number of sites that haven’t been freshened lately, maybe because the federal government lost traction. Calculating our carbon footprint has been straightforward until it comes to assessing the environmental impact of the paper we print on. We use recycled paper, but that may not count for much when measuring carbon pollution. Some mills supply paper with a carbon neutral guarantee. It’s expensive… so the paper issue is a work in progress. Jumping ahead, we had this brilliant idea of partnering up with local government and paying for tree-planting because trees help offset carbon emissions. Think of the money the council could save by having businesses pay for trees and having 28 | BusinessTimes | July 2010
]
You need to get into gear to go carbon neutral
The website for Carbon Offset Guide Australia. RMIT and EPA Victoria recommend that carbon neutral aspirants check this information about the carbon offsets available and price guides. The website makes its own recommendations about CO2 offset providers.
Reduce CO2... Switch to greenpower electricity Develop energy efficient strategies Staff practices and education Use less fuel Waste management Source products and services through a low carbon directory
them planted. Think of the good will that could develop between business and government. Think of the community benefit. It turned out to be a naive thought – Frankston City told us it has few areas in which to plant native vegetation. The environmental planner liked the idea, though, and wanted to help. She would get back to us. Sensible starting points are the National Carbon Offset Standard, downloadable from the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency website, and the EPA Victoria website which has lists like key issues to consider and a checklist for purchasing carbon offsets. EPA recommends using the Carbon Offset Guide Australia website (carbonoffsetguide.com.au) to find an offset program to suit you and your business. You can buy offsets from developers, brokers or retailers dealing in forestry, methane projects, renewable energy, energy efficiency, industrial gas or a mix of the above. The site, supported by the EPA, Victorian Government and RMIT, lists providers, accreditations, prices, projects and project locations – and it makes some recommendations. Some of these sites are selling offsets for up to $50 (and sometimes more) per tonne of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). Most prices are $11 to $20 a tonne of CO2e. Next month: Mapping the footprint / Our carbon reduction strategies.
MARKETS
Telstra: the tables turn Among share analysts Telstra is a minority taste. Prodded, pushed, tugged and squeezed by successive governments and management, it now risks losing its pay TV business unless it splits itself into wholesale and retail arms and sells assets to the National Broadband Network Co with a legislative gun to its head. This policy thuggery is egged on by foreign owned competitors who must enjoy the spectacle of seeing their big rival twist and turn as it simultaneously services $15 billion in debt, pays high dividends, tries to improve its reputation for poor customer service while re-investing in new technology and snappy, saleable “content”. The less said about its off-shore investments the better and to cap things off the Future Fund still holds 10.9 per cent after selling of 684 million shares at a 23c loss last year. This holding overhangs the share price and makes even Telstra’s keenest supporters a mite queasy. Yet for all the negatives, Telstra is one of only two large ASX listed companies (Tabcorp being the other)which pays a fully franked dividend of over nine per cent, enjoys high vigorously contested margins, covers interest cost with profit by more than 10 times, is reducing debt and marginally increasing profit. But scepticism creeps in when it is compared to Optus with its rising mobile revenues and the harsh reality that Telstra’s very high margin fixed line phone business is not just “mature” but declining sharply. Erosion of fixed line calls is a occurring globally, but in the latest half Telstra’s fixed line revenue slipped by a worrisome 13per cent. Mobile revenue was up by almost
Richard Campbell* Stock Analyst
This (Future Fund) holding overhangs the share price and makes even Telstra’s keenest supporters a mite queasy.
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5 per cent, but Optus, (aka Singapore Telecom), did much better lifting its mobile revenues by 8-9 per cent and cut into Telstra’s mobile market share which has slipped back to a solid but weakening 42 per cent. Optus is also recruiting more tech-savvy types who don’t mind big bills for sports data, news, share prices and the like. But before shunning the very thought of investing in this patched and repaired old banger, we should pause. The political
climate has suddenly changed. Senator Conroy’s threats now appear hollow. CEO David Thodey can call his bluff, turn down the $5-6 billion on offer for Telstra’s cable ducts, (the infrastructure shareholders bought as both citizens and investors) and demand full value of $9-12 billion. There may even be some justification for going it alone. Telstra could cherry-pick the better regional markets and cripple the NBN Co. This might be an enjoyable last laugh for Thodey and team, but not the best long term strategy. The mooted $43 billion NBN cost may be ludicrous, but the basic idea of an NBN is very sound. One national high-speed system would bring great benefits for business, research, education, health etc. If nationally infrastructure can be partly paid for by the downloading of porn and B grade action movies, so much the better. Telstra has been trying for almost a decade to replace its falling fixed line revenues and may be far better served by a clear focus on “content” and “service” rather than on wires, ducts and switches. It could also do without the constant grief that comes with being the incumbent provider expected to subsidise rural users while reducing costs and improving service. One clear Buy point will be the whiff of a better offer from Senator Conroy. Something around $8-9 billion should drive the price towards $4. A second might come from a test of the board’s digital literacy. If just half could “text” with one hand and email with the other, Telstra would be immediately re-rated to $5.
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July 2010 | BusinessTimes | 29
LEGAL
What’s in a name? Before you choose a new business or company name, or a name for your new product or service, make sure the name you have chosen really is available to use. Mary-Ann van Ballekom* Special Counsel
Good legal advice will stress the importance of checking the availability of any name you plan to adopt in your business before you actually adopt it. Searches need to be done through the Australian Trade Marks Register and by more general internet investigations. If you don’t take these preliminary steps and you start using a name that someone else has prior legal rights to, you can be forced to stop using the name and to pay damages and legal costs – and you will also incur all the internal costs involved in scrapping your name and starting over again with a new one. These issues are going to become even more relevant for businesses when the current state-based business names system and the national (ASIC based) company name system merge. A new National Business Names registration system is due to start in April 2011 and BusinessTimes will have more information on this changeover closer to the date. *Mary-Ann van Ballekom, Special Counsel, White Cleland Lawyers Registered Trade Marks Attorney; Member Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys; mvb@whitecleland.com.au Tel: 9783 2323
SHOUT OUT LOUD
IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING SELLING OR LEASING
IndustrIal • CommerCIal • retaIl 30 | BusinessTimes | July 2010
THE proposed Victorian Integrity and AntiCorruption Commission will address many current problems associated with investigation of complaints against public officials, according to the Law Institute of Victoria. CEO Michael Brett Young said LIV believed the proposed Integrity Co-ordination Board would be “crucial to increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the system”. “However we are keen to see that the new system has safeguards, including compatibility with the Charter of Human Rights,” he said. The LIV said safeguards must include: • Clear and transparent procesescesses for investigations; • Exercise of coercive investigatory powers only by warrant application to the Supreme Court; and • Special attention should be paid to safeguarding the rights of witnesses, including a presumption for private hearings and a guaranteed right to legal representation. Aspects of the Proust model proposed by the LIV include: • New overarching commission to investigate allegations of serious misconduct and complaints, including whistleblower complaints • Oversight by a parliamentary committee, which will receive reports from the new Public Sector Integrity Commissioner • A new investigations inspectorate to monitor the use of coercive powers Mr Brett Young said the proposed body would assist members of the public to know where to complain about public officials and provide essentially a “one stop shop” for complaint handling and investigations. – Law Institute of Victoria, June 2, 2010
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If the name you have chosen, or a very similar name, is already being used by another business selling the same sorts of products or services, you could be facing significant legal risks. Don’t be fooled into thinking that if you have a company or business name registration then this means you have the legal right to use the name, or a defence to a claim by another person. Business name registration does not provide legal rights to your name. Intellectual Property lawyers (like those at White Cleland, Frankston) provide a full range of services relating to trade mark issues and help businesses work through what are often complicated legal questions. This can involve handling Australian and international registrations of trade marks and other IP rights, drafting and negotiating contracts, as well as infringement advice and court representation where required. So many clients over the years have invested lots of precious time and money on graphic designers, websites, signage and other promotional activities for their new business or product name, only to then receive a threatening letter from another business claiming trade mark infringement. While it’s not always a clear-cut legal situation, no business wants to have to spend money on dealing with these sorts of legal threats if they could have been avoided with a bit of initial work.
Anti-corruption support from LIV
HEALTH
Jeff Kubina photo
Play now, pay later Feeling tired? No problems! Have a coffee. Make it a strong one. Two sugars. Still weary? How about a Red Bull? One or two can’t hurt. They are in the soft drink fridge, after all. Next to the ‘V’ … which is next to the ‘Mother’… on the shelf above the Coca Cola. Last issue I wrote about guarding your health by not working so hard and living so fast that you “burn out” before your time. So much about modern society celebrates fast living. The coffee culture is a perfect example. A little research revealed that Finns drink more coffee per capita than anyone else in the world – a staggering 11.2kg a year each. Italians consume 5.4kg. When last surveyed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2006, Australians were drinking 2.4kg each, trending upwards – rapidly. The problem with caffeine-based drinks, and in fact with virtually all energy stimulants known to humankind, is that they provide a short-term boost at a long-term cost. In other words, they allow you to play now but pay later. Caffeine has several immediate effects, from a Chinese medicine viewpoint. It is a pungent, warm, drying substance that first of all stimulates movement. Energetically speaking, it gives your system a nudge. There is increased peristalsis in the gut, so your bowels begin to move. The kidneys get a tweak – bladder moves. All over the body there is an increase in the movement of your qi (energy). It’s a good feeling – so good that it elevates your mood. You feel more talkative, more awake, more alert … your concentration is better. Research shows it actually increases
Michael Ellis* Chinese Herbalist
circulation – blood flow – in the fore brain. Another cup? And why not with all these seemingly positive effects? But there is a downside. Chinese medicine understands that caffeine works by producing immediate energy at the expense of your deeper reserves. It reaches into your reserve energy tanks – those depths of potential we rarely need to access – and pinches a little from there. In yin-yang terms, it burns some of your yin, in order to produce yang. So we get a little more energy here and now, at the expense of later. What the hell – I’m talking much later. Years later. Can’t we worry about that then? Of course we can, as long as we’re prepared to pay the price then. As a mentor of mine once pointed out, you can see this scenario played out at other levels of society. Health practitioners spend a great deal of their time trying to support workers who have become exhausted at a deep level. They have drained even those reserve energy tanks and become chronically fatigued. Some of these people work for big businesses that have been demanding ever greater “productivity” from them. Their stories – heard in therapists’
clinics, at dinner tables, and coffee shops everywhere – go along these lines: “Head office made one third of the workers in my section redundant, and did not replace them. The rest of us have to take up the slack. The company says it had to get rid of the “deadwood”. Those departed people were experienced workers who had crucial roles, although others may have been more visible achievers or credit takers. Now I am trying to do two jobs for the pay of one. My manager tells me it is temporary and we are coping. But it has already been months and I’m exhausted. I’ve had enough.” What is going on here? What would possess a business to treat its most valuable resource – its trained staff – this way? Why make your best workers do the job of two, when this obviously detracts from the quality of their work, and crushes their morale? By burning them out to the point where they are forced to quit, isn’t this damaging to the company and its product due to the loss of skill and experience? The only reasonable conclusion is that the company manager does not care. It benefits the manager to have fewer workers, because that means big bottom-line savings. Long-term damage to the company will not show up until later, when the manager plans to be long gone. That manager is the agent of disease here. In a business culture of short-term contracts loaded with profit-based incentives, it makes sense for a senior manager to improve the bottom line as quickly as possible. Take your golden handshake from a grateful board, cash in your share bonuses and move on. Your reputation for business acumen will precede you to your next employer. This management strategy is just like taking a stimulant drug that seems to give you energy but in fact simply drains your deep reserves. On the surface, the company seems to be operating healthily, to be leaner and more profitable. But in the longer term its product suffers, its reputation and market position weakens, and it is more vulnerable to takeover by hostile forces, even collapse. It’s simply another case of play now, pay later. *Michael Ellis is a registered Chinese herbalist in Mt Eliza. www.mtelizaherbal.com
July 2010 | BusinessTimes | 31
TECHNOLOGY
u Telcos are tempting
TELSTRA has reduced prices and claims to have simplified its broadband plans for businesses The telco dropped prices for all its plans or offered increased download limits. The unlimited option, however, remains the same. Eligible customers who bundle their business services have been offered discounts as well as incentives. Excess data charges have been halved and capped at $400 a month. Telstra said that existing connections were now high speed ADSL “where available”. Optus counterpunched with a range of broadband plans tempting small business with rebates of up to $300 for customers who sign 12-month contracts.
u Beam me up, banker NATIONAL Australia Bank (NAB) plans telepresence-quality video conferencing machines in branches as an added service to customers. The bank’s Wholesale CTO Thor Essman said that while the installation plans were not definite, the videoconferencing devices could allow customers to speak with
experts at other branches in real time. NAB already uses videoconferencing devices internally to conduct business overseas and across the state.
u iCan NetBank! COMMONWEALTH Bank customers could access all features of the bank’s online banking channel, NetBank, on the Apple iPad within days of the pad’s Australian launch at the end of May. Customers can transfer money; add new accounts and bill payees; and read secure messages. From this month all credit card transactions will be posted in real time.
u Reaching for ‘clouds’ MICROSOFT’S update to its Office software includes a web-hosted version, seemingly aimed at countering competition from emerging “cloud” products from Google. Office 2010 updates all its popular programs used by millions of businesses worldwide – Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word. The new version of Office, the
first since 2007, offers Office Web Apps – online versions of its most popular products which work directly in a web browser and are hosted on servers in the “cloud” instead of on PCs. Microsoft appears to be reacting to challenges from Google and others which are developing free online cloud-computing programs.
u Online Reckoning Australia’s largest listed accounting software company, Reckon Limited, has a new website that completes the launch phase of its online accounting system, QuickBooks Online. The software was made available to a controlled number of users last August and since that time nearly 3000 users have subscribed to QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks market the program as the most feature rich online accounting system for the SME market in Australia. Uniquely, QuickBooks can now be used in both online and desktop environments making it ideal for business owners who travel. Users also have the added security of automatic
PEDALLING FOR CARE
On your bike, Honor MORNINGTON real estate agent Honor Baxter will be heading to Vietnam in September for a challenge that would daunt most of us. No lazing around a sparkling pool for Honor! Instead she will be spending 10 days cycling 500 km through Vietnam to raise funds for international humanitarian aid organisation CARE. Honor was researching bike riding holidays when she came across information on the CARE project. “I love bike riding and find it a perfect activity to help me achieve my goal of a good life/work balance”, she said. “I have never undertaken anything like this before, but reading about the work CARE does really inspired me to have a go!” CARE is committed to fighting global poverty with a focus on working with women and girls whom they believe can most effectively create sustainable outcomes for poor communities. CARE is running the Vietnam tour in 32 | BusinessTimes | July 2010
Honor Baxter ... riding for CARE in Vietnam.
conjunction with Inspired Adventures, an Australian based company. A life-changing experience for Honor? Laughingly, she said it would certainly result in a physical change. “I’ve been at the gym four mornings a week since I signed up to go”, she said. “My staff are amazed.” Honor is aiming to raise more than $3500 for CARE before she sets off on her
trip. She has planned two fundraisers. The first is a Vietnamese luncheon and silent auction on Sunday, July 4. Entry is by a $30 donation. Authentic Vietnamese dishes will be prepared and presented by Cindy Truong, a Mornington businesswoman who also runs regular Vietnamese cooking classes. “Cindy is a brilliant chef and is donating her time towards the cause,” Honor said. The second event will be a charity art exhibition in the main office of her real estate company, Honor Baxter Real Estate, 209 Main St, Mornington. It will feature works by artist Patrick Nicholas in his first Australian exhibition. Nicholas, who is based in Italy, has called his portfolio ‘Modern Italian Muses’. The exhibition opens on Friday, July 16, at 7pm and will continue until the end of July. Entry is by donation and all the works are for sale. Bookings for the opening night are essential because numbers are limited. Details or booking for either the luncheon or the opening night of the art exhibition are available from Honor on 0418 148 468. Donations can be submitted at www. careaustralia.org.au/honorbaxter
back-up at Reckon’s Data Centre in Sydney which complies with Australian security and privacy laws.
u T-Box a trimmer Telstra T-Box looks a big winner, bringing into our lounges extra entertainment from the internet, free-to-air TV, on-demand movies and even more sport. With a mid-June launch date, the $299 T-Box packages HD free-to-air TV, BigPond TV and YouTube videos into one set-top box and one remote. The price is a steal when you consider the box contains two high-definition TV tuners, a 320GB hard disk for recording video, and integration with a swag of Telstra IPTV channels. The user interface is slick and easy to use, making it a dream buy for the technochallenged. BigPond TV includes seven sports, news and music channels plus a library of on-demand videos. BigPond content is unmetered and exclusive for BigPond customers with no monthly subscription fees
The Telstra T-Box, a steal at $299
on top of their regular internet connection. Telstra CEO David Thodey claims that “internet connectivity is the biggest thing on TV since the launch of cable television, opening the door to boundless options for on-demand entertainment”. Telstra’s new T-Box is the best way to access it all, he said. The number of downloadable BigPond Movies has been expanded for the T-Box launch, with more than 1300 with regular new releases, as well as a growing range of TV series. BigPond movies will start at $3.99. BigPond TV’s content on the T-Box brings a host of channels for no extra cost, including 24/7 news, dedicated and exclusive AFL, NRL,V8 Supercars channels, plus a 24/7 BigPond Sports Newschannel, live horse racing from Sydney and Melbourne and music channel BPM. YouTube fans can also watch the latest videos in the comfort of their
lounge room via the T-Box. Thodey said customer trials of the T-Box identified the most popular features as downloading BigPond Movies and pausing and rewinding free-to-air TV. T-Box also works as a personal video recorder, so you can record, pause and rewind live TV or watch one channel while recording another. It has 320GB of storage and a seven-day TV guide. The T-Box provides HDMI, composite and component video connections to the TV and requires a high speed BigPond Broadband connection such as BigPond Cable Elite or BigPond ADSL 2+ Elite, connected via ethernet or WiFi. Additionally, the T-Box will enable analog televisions to receive digital broadcasts, satisfying those who don’t want to upgrade their current TV to a digital set. T-Box also supports connection to home theatre systems with digital audio and standard audio connections. It will receive remote software updates. T-Box was expected to be available from selected Telstra stores mid-June.
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Hayley Najim, personal assistant to Frankston MHR Bruce Billson, (Shadow Minister for Small Business) and Jason Beare, CPA and practice manager of MBA Business Solutions Mornington, were married on Sunday, June 13, at The Willows, St Kilda Road, Melbourne. Photo by Glimmarpics
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feature
34 | BusinessTimes | June 2010
Ahhh...
ROMA The brothers Buontempo are among the region’s exporting stars – they are selling pasta to the Italians. KEITH PLATT goes in search of the methods that make this multi award-winning food business such a success
T
HE Buontempo brothers, Max and Frank, have a healthy attitude to business. Quality control at their Roma Food Products factory at Carrum Downs is fine tuned to ensure that not even a speck of dust from an unwanted ingredient will contaminate their range of 90 “ethical and healthy” food products. They are proud to be a successful example of a business that exports a product to its country of origin. Like camels to Saudi Arabia and coals to Newcastle, the Buontempos have earned themselves a marketing niche by taking pasta to Italy. Other products include snacks, breakfast cereals, biscuits, cereals, cake mixes, fruit bars, custard powder, soups, gravy and crisp bread. Confident of their product, the brothers regularly enter business awards competitions and since 2004 have been publishing their own wu glossy Everyday Health magazine.
The Buontempos Max (left) and Frank: “We identified a gap in the market for gluten-free foods and we made sure we met the necessary standards for export” June 2010 | BusinessTimes | 35
feature
tv The
Buontempo brothers were born in Italy and at a young age (Frank four and Max two) were brought to Australia by parents seeking a more stable and reliable place to reside and rear children. However, when BusinessTimes first visits Roma a rare cloud has come between the brothers. Max Buontempo is stranded in Europe when airlines are grounded because of dangers from the ash billowing from a volcano in Iceland. More than a week later Max is back, sporting a suntan and a smile. His flight home was grounded in Milan and with the attitude of “having to do something with my time” hastily arranged a couple of business meetings, and a visit to Lake Como. Back at Roma’s Carrum Downs factory Max and Frank are happy to don blue paper hair coverings and provide a guided tour of their production lines, warehouse and products mainly marketed under the Orgran and eponymous Buontempo labels. Roma Australia’s producer of specialised dietetic foods for those suffering food intolerances. Its production lines are designed to prevent any of its products being contaminated by wheat, dairy products, eggs, yeast or genetically modified ingredients. Frank Buontempo said he and Max “had an interest in healthy foods, nutrition and foods in general”. “There’s no doubt we’re a niche business for a niche group of consumers. We also had a drive to develop and be active. I finished school and worked at various jobs - in grocery, plastics and insurance. “Max did similar things as well as a pastry cook’s course. We were 19 and 21 when we started to get into manufacturing and made five moves in five years. We started in Box Hill, then Clayton and made a big leap to Adelaide in 1987. “We stayed there three years, bought equipment and started to develop products.” The brothers’ initial recipes were developed through trial and error, researching ingredients. “We identified a gap in the market for gluten-free foods and made sure we met the necessary standards 36 | BusinessTimes | June 2010
Their name means good times ... and that is certainly how times are for these dedicated brothers running the family business in Carrum Downs. ABOVE: Pasta, pasta everywhere ... blue hair-netted Frank Buontempo in the factory of Roma Foods where any speck of dust is the enemy and must be eliminated immediately.
for export,” Frank said. “There were a lot of problems relating to food and we had a personal interest in better diets and came to Carrum Downs in 1991. “The purpose-built building has since undergone extensive extensions to cater for the growth of their business. There is strict control over cross contamination with isolated production lines so we can guarantee food with allergen-free status for our external clients can sell with confidence.” Raw materials and finished products are tested and accredited by independent authorities under the industry-recognised HACCP Australia food safety program. There is also random government testing. “We always had the big picture in mind – to export. Our marketing was self taught and we did a lot of travelling attending food shows,” Frank said. Roma exports about 40 per cent of its output and experienced “a bit of negativity” during the global financial crisis”. “We do worry, but consider ways to overcome problems. “We knew early on we couldn’t survive without export and started within the first two years of being in business.” The company tries to be innovative with the products it chooses to make, all the time being careful to remain allergen free.
“We have research and development people, marketing and a sales group are part of the stages to developing a product,” Frank says. Always ready to try to reach the market, the Buontempo brothers have also come up with a “few duds”. “It can happen if you’re not in line with the market, price, peoples’ taste, there’s a similar product on the market or you have an ingredient people don’t want. Some products were tailored to meet demands of specific markets such as Japan, Italy and the Middle east. “But the hardest part of all is finding reliable overseas distributors,” Frank said. “We make contact, do research on their [distributors] history. It’s a long process, not something you can do overnight.” “Once found, it is important to develop a relationship of trust with the right distributor. “Some come out here and we go there. It becomes almost a family relationship and having the same mindset in terms of business character, markets and ethical beliefs. “Ethics and healthy food go hand in hand and are reflected by the type of customer we have.” While any business must have a desirable and marketable product, ongoing success is intrinsically
The Buontempo Brothers Max (left) and Frank in their Carrum Downs warehouse with food products ready to be shipped all over Australia and Europe.
tied to growth and getting finance to expand “can be hard”, according to Frank. “You see opportunities but can’t capitalise on them until you’ve got backing. If you don’t expand you’ll succumb to competitors. In our case, some eastern European competitors are moving into Australia. “But their production processes are not regulated as much as ours and as such are a danger to consumers – we’ve all heard the horror stories. “Governments allow it to happen to create employment, but there are cross-contamination issues such as what happened with milk during the Olympics in China and there’s been soaked cardboard used as filler in foods. “There’s a lot more red tape involved in exporting and we don’t seem to have the same rules for incoming products.” Although Roma’s base is firmly fixed in Carrum Downs the Buontempo brothers are considering manufacturing overseas. Containers of their products are shipped out weekly, but there would be advantages for the more bulky and light items to be made closer to their overseas markets. “We’ve had marketing alliances for seven years in Belgium and Poland for puffed grain cereals, but we believe there’s still a long way to go.” You get the impression they’re well down the track. June 2010 | BusinessTimes | 37
CONTRIBUTIONS
21 tv customers. Clearly Google is doing a damn fine job right now. So the more you can do to help them the better – for them and for you! Of course the art of ranking or search engine optimisation (SEO) is not as simple as just finding keywords. It can be a complex and often expensive exercise and depending on the strength of your competition it takes diligence, consistency and patience to get up there. In fact there are companies that specialise in helping businesses’ websites rank. Having said that, finding your keywords is certainly a good place to start. So how do you find the right keywords? The trick is knowing what your prospective customers are likely to enter in a Google search to find a product or service like yours. Rather than leave it to guesswork and risk wasting time and money targeting the wrong keywords, there are tools that can help you get them right. WordTracker, Google Insights and Google Search-Based Keyword Tool are just some of them and they can provide reliable information on your keywords, most importantly the number of people actually using those words in searches. There’s no point targeting a word that only gets three searches a day globally! Just as search engine optimisation is an ever changing business, so too is yours. So it’s important to remember that the keywords you choose today may not suit your business model down the track. Changes in products and services inevitably change your customers and the words they may use to find you in their next website search.
5 tips for good Google ranking 1. Research and select relevant key words: Use tools like WordTracker, Google Insights and Google Search-Based Keyword Tool. 2. Target practice: Make sure you target your keywords effectively. Use them frequently and in the right places so search engines know what your site is about If you’re not sure how to do it hire a copywriter that does. 3. Track your success: Make sure your web designer installs Google Analytics on your website. 4. Go with the flow: Your business is constantly changing as is the web and the people that use it. Use Google Analytics to track your “hits” and “tune” your keywords and website frequently 5. Become a blogger!: Search engines love to see fresh content and that’s why blogging is the ideal way to keep your website constantly updated by Linda Suttie, Jot Copywriting m. 0418 137 605; s www.jotcopwriting.com.au
38 | BusinessTimes | July 2010
Sharpen with training A child care centre with no children or a café with bad food would not be considered an effective business. If a business cannot meet its targets and deliver its products or services– then it is doomed. To meet targets, businesses need to consider a range of elements in their day-today operations. One of the most commonly misunderstood and potentially underutilised tools for increasing a business’s effectiveness is training. Developing a strong learning environment with a structured and nationally recognised training program has a range of benefits to all workplaces. These benefits are not just limited to the individuals being trained, but more importantly to the businesses that put in the effort to train their staff.
A business will often suffer from reduced productive capacity and increased downtime when key individuals are on leave. For some there has often been a concern that a business might lose an employee that they are training, therefore wasting valuable time and money. However, losing an entire business due to ineffectiveness is a lot more painful. To help with your decision to implement a structured training plan consider the following seven key benefits: 1. Ideas and Innovation: The training process creates new ideas and innovations to improve business effectiveness. All employees get to rethink existing business processes and practices and learn from each other through questions and discussion that the training encourages. 2 Retention of Staff: Retention of staff can be improved when the structured training program includes team effectiveness aspects to build professional working relationships, respect and support in the workplace. 3 Increased Capacity: A business will often suffer from reduced productive capacity and increased downtime when key individuals are on leave. Counteract this by building a team with greater ability to step in and cover for each other and build a more effective long term succession plan. 4 Achievement: A structured training program promotes an achievement focus directed towards organisational goals that will result in more energy and time being devoted to building the business.
5 Common Purpose: Business success is enhanced when all team members share a common purpose that is aligned with the organisation’s strategic importance. Training enhances this and reduces reactive thinking and activity based around personal preferences. 6 Building Bonds: Structured training creates solid bonds among junior and senior staff as they move towards the common learning outcome. 7 Enhanced Attitudes: Staff attitudes and intentions can drive the success of a business. Structured training allows businesses to address and implement actions on identified staff issues; therefore maintaining the health of the business. In today’s economy having the necessary staff to meet ongoing business requirements is as important as having the clients walk through the door. Make sure your team has the skills and strategies to keep your business ahead of the game and enhance the effectiveness of your business. by Sean Farmer, CEO of Pragmatic Training. Pragmatic Training is a Registered Training Organisation offering nationally recognised training qualifications throughout Australia in aged care, business, children’s services and hospitality. Funding is available for eligible students. For information go to www.pt.edu.au or call1800 155 486
Spotting a bad payer Lawler’s Business Recovery and Insolvency Group has 10 tips for spotting a bad payer: 1. Broken promises 2. ‘Bounced’ or dishonoured cheques 3. Late payments – outside your trading terms 4. Playing suppliers off against each other for credit – preferential treatment for selected creditors. 5. Lack of communication and mixed advice on payments 6. Pending legal judgements and legal actions – lots of letters from solicitors, writs being issued against that company 7. Seeking arrangements with creditors – asking for terms, issuing post-dated cheques or partial payments 8. Questionable business promotions 9. Highly geared business ventures 10. Forced disposal of assets.
NETWORKING
1 2
MOUNT ELIZA
Mount Eliza Networking Group met at Canadian Bay Hotel, Ranelagh Drive, on May 27. 1: From left Ginette Everest, of Awakening Business Creativity; Brian Holland, of Holland Insurance Brokers; Angie Watkins, branch manager of Westpac, Mt Eliza; and Hans Went, of Canadian Bay Travel. 2: Daniel, of Independent Antennas; Judy Newman; Greg Weir, of PoolWerx, Mt Eliza; and Rohani Bixler, of Marshalls and Dent Lawyers. 3: From left Tony Papadopoulos, graphic designer of tpgd; Anne Nelson, of Jim’s Bookkeeping Mornington Beachside; James Kirby, of Redline Personal Training; and Ron Chowanetz, of Money Resources Group.
3
2
MONASH BREAKFAST
Amber Rabinov, an economist with the ANZ Bank, discussed the Federal Budget – and whether the global financial is over – at the latest Business Associates Seminar by Monash University Business and Economics faculty – Peninsula Campus. 1: The MBA Business Solutions team (from left) Irena Lioudvigova, Jason Beare, senior accountant Dereen Wallace and Amy Bignell. 2: Simon Alschwager, of Coach & Co, (left) with Pat Mannix, principal of Paris Consulting and MBA Business Solutions. The breakfast, at Steeples, Mornington, was sponsored by ANZ and MBA Business Solutions.
1
MORNINGTON BNI
1
MORNINGTON BNI breakfast at The Rocks, Mornington Harbour, on Wednesday, June 2. 1: John Moore, of Mornington Legal, (left), Mark Buckton, of BFI (Bayside Finance and Investment) and Cyril Campelj, of Cambur Motors, Mornington and Frankston. 2: Teresa Liss,of Key Choice Home Loans, and Michael Sinclair, accountant, of Harper Group Chartered Accountants, Frankston
2 July 2010 | BusinessTimes | 39
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